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Unknown ph, not to be bottle sauce - refrigerator “shelf life”

Hi, I was wondering what the refrigerator shelf life is for sauce I experiment with where I do not know the ph, and have no intention of hot packing. For example, if I just try out a recipe or make my own and dont know the ph and have no intention of bottling, how long can I keep it in my fridge in a clean woozie or bell jar before I need to throw it out? Assuming I boiled the ingredients. 3 days? 1 week? 1 month? I know if it smells not to use it, but any general guidelines?

Thank you
 
You can keep it in the fridge until it "turns". There is not set amount of time. It could be weeks or years. But in the fridge you are safe from botulism, just, not spoiling. So sniff/taste.
 
Thanks. I was thinking more if I gave some away.. I would rather say use eithn X weeks/months then smell everytime before use, especially if its in a 5 ounce woozie it is kind of hard to smell.
 
Only way is test it yourself and the tell them the "best by" date when keeping in fridge.
 
Since you are new to sauce making and giving away, I'd personally tell them to consume within one month.
 
Hothotsauce said:
Thanks. I was thinking more if I gave some away.. I would rather say use eithn X weeks/months then smell everytime before use, especially if its in a 5 ounce woozie it is kind of hard to smell.
 
If I were giving it away, I'd invest the $20 in a pH meter and bottle it appropriately using the hot fill/hold method. 
 
If you are just giving to close friends and family no need for that. Like when grandma gives you her famous sunday gravy to take home, you just refrigerate and eat.
 
However that is good advice if you are thinking about doing this professionally. You'll need to be more pro with your hobby little bits at a time. Preservation, converting recipes to grams, labels etc.
 
The Hot Pepper said:
If you are just giving to close friends and family no need for that. Like when grandma gives you her famous sunday gravy to take home, you just refrigerate and eat.
 
However that is good advice if you are thinking about doing this professionally. You'll need to be more pro with your hobby little bits at a time. Preservation, converting recipes to grams, labels etc.
 
True but when you're taking Grandma's gravy the reasonable expectation is that you're going to refrigerate it and consume it within a couple days. A bottle of hot sauce might seem like an invitation to keep for a really long time or store at room temp like commercial sauces. Just my preference...
 
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